Blooming Respect
by RitatheBeetle
Summary: Of course, the next words were like a punch in the stomach. Like a punishment for everything she had ever done wrong. "It's Raydor. Piper Raydor." When a new case Brenda investigates a murder that ties to close for comfort with Sharon Raydor, the two women must learn to reach a level of respect, not just for themselves, but for Sharon's family as well.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: So this is my first Closer story, an idea I've had for almost a year, revolving around Sharon (my favorite) and Brenda (my second favorite). There will be no romance between the two, this is purely a friendship fic. This story is dedicated to HepburnJunkie22, for basically helping me with my ideas, and constantly motivating me to write it. I of course do not own The Closer, I am merely a simple fan. Oh and this takes place sometime in season six, so the Terrel Baylor lawsuit hasn't happened yet.**

**Brenda**

It seemed so strange to her, driving to a middle school at a time when most people were picking up their children, and it was even stranger to be going to a crime scene at said middle school. Major Crimes had received plenty of 'out there' cases, but this was the first that had ever occurred _at_ an actual school. It was an interesting change of pace, to say the very least. She had gotten the call from Pope about fifteen minutes ago, saying there had been a shooting at Kemper Hill Middle School, one of the teachers had been killed, and that she and her squad needed to get there right away. As it had been an unusually slow day for Major Crimes, her squad seemed eager for something interesting to do on a tedious Friday afternoon.

Brenda could see the building from a mile away. Granted, it wasn't that hard to find. It was the only building around for blocks in all directions. She knew that meant it was either the perfect place to commit a murder or the dumbest. She parked her car at the curb, seeing the place blocked away by the bright yellow crime scene tape. Other squad cars were parked in various places, their red and blue lights flashing in every direction. The rest of her squad had also arrived on the scene and were ready to take action. Naturally, Detective Gabriel was at her side almost immediately, as ready to begin investigating as she was.

From what she could see, the building itself wasn't in the best shape. The red bricks that held it together were, fading to the point where they almost resembled an orange color. The wooden panelings on the windows were splintered and paint chipped. The sign in the front of the building, which should have read 'Kemper Hill Middle School' had lost several of its gold painted letters and now read 'K mpe ill Mi d e Sc ool'. She didn't know if it was just the Los Angeles heat, but there was still something about this building that still had a warm comforting feeling to it, despite its less than stellar condition. Of course, the second she entered the school, with the rusty hinges on the doors squeaking loudly, the warm comfortable feeling deteriorated drastically. It might have had to do with the interior being in worse shape than the exterior. The floors, which were possibly a distinctive color once, were now stained and scratched, and it was impossible to know it's color or even if it was tile or linoleum. There were no windows in the hallways, and only the dimly lit ceiling lights gave off any illumination. The paint on the walls, the bland grey paint, was currently peeling off, as if trying to escape the place's dreariness. As she walked farther up the near empty hallway, passing numerous worn out lockers, she saw pictures of students and teachers from past years, the earliest being from 1942, when it was apparently still a primary school. She heard Flynn snort from laughter behind her.

"Geez, Provenza, the place is almost as ancient as you!" And Provenza immediately offered a "Shut up, Flynn!" as a rebuttal.

She promptly stopped at what appeared to be the teacher's lounge, the door propped wide open, revealing the entire scene. The teacher's lounge (if it was even large enough to qualify as a lounge) seemed completely out of whack. Broken glass was scattered in all directions, what appeared to be blood and coffee trickled down the walls, the two cabinet drawers were pulled completely open, and of course there was the fact that there was in fact, a corpse sprawled across the floor that completed the 'what's wrong with this picture' riddle of the room. Her victim was a Caucasian male, approximately mid to late forties, with cropped salt and pepper hair, clean cut and shaven, wearing what appeared to be a grey Armani suit and fine leather shoes. He was lying on his back, revealing several gaping holes in the middle of his chest, all of which were oozing blood. Off to the side and engrossed in conversation were Assistant Chief William Pope and a man and girl Brenda had never seen before in her life. Like the victim, this man was older, probably late forties early fifties, with graying black hair, a beard to match, and thick round glasses that enhanced the size of his eyes. The girl seemed to have no relation to the man whatsoever, a conclusion Brenda came to not only by lack of physical resemblance, but the fact that their body language seemed to show that they were not close in any way. The girl had long wavy brown hair with a few streaks of blue and pink in the mix, blue-grey eyes and intense facial features that made her appear slightly familiar. She did not appear to be as involved in the conversation as Pope and the older man, and judging by the dismal expression on her face, she really did not want to be there. Understandable, Brenda thought to herself, after a teacher just died.

"Chief Pope," She kept her voice calm and steady, "Care to explain what happened?"

"Of course," He turned around to face the man and the girl again. The man was looking at Brenda like she was a mutant from another planet, though granted, he was already as nervous as could be, and the girl remained still, looking eerily calm; a look that was frighteningly familiar but impossible to place. Pope gave them a reassuring nod that seemed to tell them, 'it's okay, she's one of us.'

"Brenda, this is Kenneth Duncan, he's the principal of Kemper Hill. And this is . . ." He turned to the mystery girl, and she cut him off before she could introduce her.

"Piper." Her voice was curt, not quite snippy, but very _to-the-point_; also strangely familiar.

"Right. She's one of our potential witnesses." With that, he focused his attention on the corpse, "Our victim is Matthew Shaw, who earlier today, was staying late and stopped here," He motioned around the teacher's lounge, "For what we're going to assume for now, coffee. About an hour ago, Piper here noticed a mysterious looking male enter the building. Five minutes after that, Ken and Piper heard shots being fired, and Ken found Shaw dead on the floor." Brenda nodded, absorbing the information carefully, trying to listen to what he did say, and possibly what he didn't say. She was soon giving jobs to each member of her squad, Tao to take DNA samples from the blood on the walls, Sanchez to collect any other potential evidence, Buzz to document the scene, and Flynn and Provenza to interview this Kenneth Duncan. She purposefully had her two senior Lieutenants take the principal, so she and Detective Gabriel could interview Piper, the mysterious girl. There was just something about her that was eating at Brenda to the point of frustration.

"Um, Piper, if you'll just follow Detective Gabriel here please?" Piper stood up, slinging a navy blue backpack across her shoulders, and did as she was told. "Thank you so much."

**! #$%^&*!**

"So . . . .Piper," Brenda began as she slipped into the backseat with the girl. Gabriel agreed to drive so Brenda could properly conduct the interview. "I'm going to ask you just a few questions about what you saw and heard on our way to the station, and you're going to try to answer them as best you can. Can you do that?" She maintained a kind gentle tone in her voice, as to try and make the girl feel comfortable, but Piper's face was still practically emotionless and pretty much impossible to read, something that was about to drive Brenda insane. Piper nodded slowly, pulling a few strands of brown hair behind her ear.

"Well . . . . Chief Johnson," There was something about the way she said 'Chief' was startled Brenda. "At about, maybe four o'clock this afternoon, I was in Mr. Shaw's classroom, working on some work for his class."

"Why?" Brenda inquired, more out of curiosity than anything. "Were you falling behind in his class?"

"No," Piper shook her head, "We're working on research projects in his class and some of us need extra time after school to work."

"And what does Mr. Shaw teach exactly?"

"History." For the first time Piper smiled slightly, "We're learning about Ancient Greece right now. The project is on mythology." She took a deep breath and continued on, "And, abound ten minutes later, Mr. Shaw left the room to go to the teacher's lounge."

"For coffee?" Brenda pressed. Piper shrugged.

"I have no idea. He just . . . told not to touch anything and just ran out of the room. And then after he left, I saw . . . I saw someone come in from the doors outside of Mr. Shaw's room. The doors that lead outside."

"Could you see if the person was male of female?" Another head shake.

"No. Whoever it was had on a black hoodie and they were running so fast, I couldn't get a clear look at them anyway."

"He was . . . .running?"

"Yes." There was a long pause as Brenda processed the current information.

"What happened after that?"

"Um . . . a few minutes later there was some shouting and then I heard gunshots and then . . ." She took a moment to compose herself, "And I think whoever it was came running back out the doors because I heard running and a door slam."

"And, he didn't see you?"

"I hid under my desk when I heard the shots."

"Now, you say you heard gunshots. How many did you hear?" Piper shrugged again.

"I dunno maybe four or five. I know there were at least three." Brenda tried to put a comforting hand Piper's shoulder, something the girl seemed to be taken aback by.

"Alright, now I just have one more question. What happened after you heard the door slam?"

"Uh . . . Mr. Duncan came running into the room asking if I was alright and then I asked if I could use his phone to call my mom but he said – crap! I forgot to call my mom." She clapped her hand over her mouth as her eyes widened. "I completely forgot to call my mom! Duncan said we had to call the police first, and my phone's dead so she still doesn't know!" Her face visibly paled and Brenda saw her hands begin to shake.

"Hey, it's okay, it's okay." She soothed while trying to calm Piper down. "We can call her from the station. Is she at work?"

"Um . . . . I don't think she's in today. She'd normally be at the station. She works there too."

"She does?" Brenda asked, genuinely interested.

"Yes. She works for the FID." At this, Brenda paled. She only knew one person from FID and . . . no. There was no way.

"Really?" She tried to keep the nervousness out of her voice. "I . . . just realized, I didn't ask you your last name. We . . . need it for our report." She admitted to herself that it would have been better to just ask who the girl's mother was, but she knew there was a likely chance she'd say her last name was 'Benning' or 'Harmon', or another one of those names she heard worked for FID before. She was practically praying to herself that this girl wouldn't say . . . _that_. Of course, the next words were like a punch in the stomach. Like a punishment for everything she had ever done wrong.

"It's Raydor. Piper Raydor."

**Sharon**

It felt nice, Sharon thought to herself as she placed two plastic bags full of groceries into the trunk of her car, to not spend a day on one of her cases. No murders, no reports, just grocery shopping with Karen was enough to qualify as a perfect. If she could, she'd take personal days more often. As she reached for the bag with a two-liter bottle of Cola and loaf of bread, she felt Karen tugging anxiously at her sleeve.

"Can I help, Gramma?" The little girl asked. Sharon couldn't help but smile. Lately, Karen wanted to be involved with just about everything those around her did. Today at the grocery store, for instance, she insisted on not riding in the cart, but actually walking alongside Sharon and helping her get what they needed. She couldn't help but observe how Josh did the exact same thing at Karen's age.

"Sure, Kare," She picked up the lightest bag in the cart, one with carrot sticks and celery, and handed it to Karen to put in the trunk. Her granddaughter's green eyes widened with excitement and she quickly set the bag safely in the car. This was another reason Sharon enjoyed her personal days so much. Instead of spending time around those, who in general, detested her presence, she could spend it with people who were actually glad to see her. She never grew tired of the way Karen always had the biggest smile whenever Sharon came into the room, and she never grew tired of the almost suffocating hugs that follow. For a six year old girl, she seemed to have enough energy to squeeze the breath out of anyone.

"Are we going to get Piper now?" Karen asked as she climbed into the back seat of the car and strapping herself in. Sharon nodded, pulling her keys out of her purse. It kind of annoyed her that they had to get Piper from school so late. The history teacher, Mr. Shaw, was one of the flakiest teachers she had ever met, and throughout her years of raising three children, she had met some real pieces of work. She didn't like the fact that Piper (and the other students, for that matter) each had a giant project to do, with not enough time to complete it during school hours and not being allowed to even take it home. But she kept quiet, a rarity of hers, because if her daughter was willing to be a sport about it, she was too. She decided to just focus on picking up her daughter, and then meeting Linus for dinner. She hadn't seen her oldest son in over four months.

She was just pulling out of the parking lot, listening to Karen reminisce about her game of tag at recess today when she heard a noise that almost always put a damper on her mood: the sound of her phone ringing. Karen immediately went silent, as she knew the phone-routine by heart. Grumbling profanities at such a volume that Karen could not overhear, Sharon pulled the car over the side of the curb, and pulled her phone out of her pocket.

"Raydor." She answered, not even bothering to hide the annoyance she felt.

"Sharon? It's Andy." She didn't really need the introduction, having recognized Lieutenant Flynn's voice almost immediately.

"What is it, Lieutenant?" She didn't care if Andy was on a first name basis with her; she made sure to refer to him by his rank. "In case you haven't heard, I'm not in my office today." She heard a slightly anxious sigh coming from the other end and she was suddenly curious as to what was going on.

"Lieutenant? What happened?" She said the words slowly, cautiously, worried as to what the answer would be. "Where are you calling from?"

"Kemper Hill." Was his reluctant response. _Oh crap,_ Sharon cursed to herself, _Piper's school_. "There was a shooting about an hour ago, and –"

"What?" She didn't let him finish, her mind suddenly going crazy as to what could have happened, "Where's Piper? Is she okay, is she –" This time, he didn't let her finish.

"Piper's fine, Sharon. One of the teacher's was killed and she's a potential witness." There was a long pause, as if he was afraid to tell her the next part. "And Chief Johnson is taking her back to the station, so she can interview her." Sharon did not hear every last word in that last sentence. Her mind was clouded with the worry she had felt before turning into relief that Piper was okay. . . but she did hear the words, 'Chief Johnson is taking her back to the station'. And that was more than enough. She visibly tensed, and from the rearview mirror, she could see Karen tense up too.

"You mean to tell me," She began, her voice cold and hard, "That you allowed _my daughter _to get into a car alone with _her_?" Her face grew hot with anger, and she was gripping her cell phone so tight that it was in peril of shattering to pieces. She knew how Brenda was with witnesses, and God only knows what she'd do to a witness that just happened to share the same DNA as her enemy.

"In all fairness Captain," Flynn was now to a point where he was scared enough to refer to her by her rank. Smart move, she decided, "The Chief didn't actually know that Piper was your kid when they left." _Thank you, Flynn, _she thought to herself grimly, _that's very helpful_. There was plenty she could have said about the matter, along with a few choice words she could have given Flynn. Thankfully, she remembered that her six year old granddaughter was in fact, still in the backseat, listening to every word Sharon said. Not wanting to say something she'd end up regretting later, she ended the conversation with a blunt,

"I'll be there as soon as I can." She hung up the phone and shoved it back into her pocked with a frustrated sigh.

"Gramma, is Piper okay?" Karen asked. She wasn't crying; it had been years since she'd actually cried, but she did look concerned. She was bright for a six year old, and she knew when something was amiss.

"Piper's fine Kare," Sharon remembered to speak more gently now, "We just have to make a quick stop at the Police Station, okay?"

"Will they be nice to us?" This was another thing about Karen: she was not oblivious as to how hostile people seemed to be towards Sharon and FID.

"No promises, baby girl." Sharon answered in all honesty.

**Piper**

The remainder of the drive to the Station was in a sort of awkward silence. Chief Johnson seemed to be torn between staring at Piper like she was some sort of alien to not even looking at her at all. Piper decided to just read her book and hide her mild amusement about the entire situation. She knew exactly who Chief Johnson was, despite the fact that they had never met before. She had heard her mother's many stories about the woman, and about how she was always a little less than welcoming. It was pretty easy to recognize the Chief simply by her strong southern accent, that her mother often imitated in such a way that in bordered on cruel. It wasn't the fact that she knew who Chief Johnson was that made everything funny; it was the fact that the blonde haired Deputy Chief did not know who Piper was. The last twenty minutes were just spent with the chief trying to play the 'nice-game' with Piper. This was a trick Piper knew by heart, as her mother had taught her to use it whenever she wanted to obtain information on anyone. On someone inexperienced, it was foolproof, but on an expert, it was easy to see through.

She almost didn't hear Chief Johnson's curt 'we're here' when they pulled into the station. She looked up from her book, peered out the window, and jumped when she saw her mother's SUV parked next to Chief Johnson's car. Of course she had known her mother would be informed of the situation at hand. . . she just hoped it wouldn't have been this quick. It was already going to be awkward as it was, but she wasn't sure if she was prepared to see her mother go at it with the Chief. Of course, she had never actually seen the two interact, but the horror stories she had heard in the past were more than enough.

She took several heaving breaths, trying to calm herself down as she cautiously opened the door and slid out of the car. She tried to walk with an air of dignity behind Chief Johnson and the dark skinned detective, whom she had heard was called 'Gabriel', though she was pretty sure she was failing miserably at it. They walked in the same sort of awkward silence that had been present on the ride over; well, Piper was silent and the Chief and Gabriel were conversing at a volume so low Piper couldn't catch a word. When they reached what Piper assumed was the Major Crimes office, the first people that could be seen were her anxious looking mother, and a confused Karen sitting on her lap.

She instinctively shrunk behind Gabriel, preparing herself for whatever was about to go down.

"Oh god, Piper," Her mother said frantically, setting Karen on her feet and rushing over to pull Piper into a protective hug. Chief Johnson and Gabriel awkwardly stepped out of the way. Her mother pulled away and stared directly at Piper. "Are you alright?" Unable to speak clearly or audibly, Piper only nodded, her eyes darting nervously around the room. As it was, she had rarely ever seen the FID workplace, as her mother didn't feel comfortable letting her daughter or granddaughter hang around in such an environment (something Piper would easily comply with), and as a result, she had never seen the office of Major Crimes. From what she could see, it was similar, yet very different to the environment of FID. This particular place had a more of a grim feel to it than FID, especially when one detective was currently posting photos of Mr. Shaw's dead body on the whiteboard in the back of the room. It did, however have the same sort of strange sort of comfort as FID, where she could tell that the people working in the department had a strong dynamic and they knew what the hell they were doing.

Her mother gave Piper another once-over and as soon as she seemed content that her daughter was fine and in one piece, she focused her gaze on Chief Johnson.

"Captain," Chief Johnson began cautiously, looking as though she were debating whether to step forward or step back. She seemed to decide on forward, though she proceeded with plenty of caution. "Captain if you'd let me explai-"

"Please save it, Chief," Her mother practically growled, nudging Piper behind her. "My daughter. . .she isn't a suspect is she?" Her tone was so low and dangerous, that it shook even Piper, who was usually immune. She was about to answer, but Chief Johnson beat her to it.

"No, of course not, Captain. She's a potential witness our investigation and we already interviewed her on the way over here." Piper noticed the Chief's eyes occasionally glance nervously behind her and her mother's shoulder, and with each sentence, she seemed to get tenser. "And all we need is her official statement about what happened and then we can release-I'm sorry, but why does she keep staring at me?" Piper turned around to see Karen, standing in the same spot she had been set down. She was remaining motionless, her bright green eyes focusing directly on the Chief, with one of her thumbs resting firmly in her mouth.

"Oh that's just Karen," Piper explained, stepping back from her mother's grip on her hand. She scooped Karen up in her arms as best she could, and the little girl wrapped her arms tightly around Piper's neck and not taking her eyes off the Chief. "It's okay, Karebear." Piper whispered soothingly Karen, knowing she'd receive no response. When it came to being in public places, Karen always remained silent, too afraid to speak to anybody. Piper looked back over at her mother, whose demeanor seemed to completely change. A minute before, she had been so tense her spine was literally stiff, and now Piper could see her entire body relax, and she could hear her mother's long weary sigh.

"Alright," Her mother said softly, running her fingers through her hair. "Take my daughter's statement. Just. . . please don't take too long. We'd like to leave pretty soon." Gabriel and the Chief seemed visibly surprised, and she could have sworn she heard Gabriel mutter "Did she just say _please_?" Piper's mother turned her head and nodded as if to say 'go with them; it's okay'. Piper reluctantly set down Karen and backed away with the Chief, not taking her eyes away from her mother, who was currently swooping and taking Karen into her arms, the entire time.

Piper spent the next ten minutes in one of the most awkward environment she had ever been in. She gave Chief Johnson her statement, which was just a condensed version of everything she went over earlier, and the entire time she could practically feel the Chief's eyes boring into her. While she had found it amusing a while ago, now it was just creeping Piper out, and she was eager to get out of there as soon as possible.

"Okay. . . thank you, Piper." The Chief finally said hastily, and Piper did not hesitate to stand up. "I think we have your . . . mother's contact information with us, and we'll be sure to call if we need to know anything else."

"That's great," Piper responded, trying to keep any sarcasm out of her voice. She made her way towards the door, and tried to flash a pleasant smile. "You have a good day, Chief." She noticed the Chief flinch at her words, and decided it best to just leave. She immediately made a beeline for her mother, who adjusted her hold on Karen so she could wrap an arm around Piper's shoulder. Gabriel handed Piper her backpack that had been retrieved from the squad car, and with an exception of a small nod and an almost inaudible 'thank you' the girl made a point not to look back as she and her mother left for their car.

When her mother set Karen to the ground opening the door to the backseat, the younger girl hugged Piper around the waist.

"I'm sorry, Piper." She said softly looking up at her aunt. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine Kare," Piper said to the surprisingly articulate six-year old. "Don't worry about it." Karen just nodded and allowed Piper to lift her into the backseat. Piper closed the door for her and proceeded to slip into the passenger seat. After strapping herself in, she reached into her backpack and pulled out her iPod, knowing that music would help calm her nerves. She selected the album to _Chicago_, her all time favorite musical, inserted her ear-buds and closed her eyes trying to relax her mind. Though it didn't feel like it through the blur of the music, but there was silence in the car for a significant period of time. It was in the middle of 'Cell Block Tango', that Piper felt her mother's hand tap her shoulder; a signal that she wanted to talk. She pulled one ear-bud out allowing one ear to continue listening to music, and the other to focus on whatever her mother had to say.

"I'm thinking that since we're all probably too tired to go out to eat, that we could just tell Linus to come to the house and order a pizza or something." Piper prepared to protest, not wanting to ruin any of the dinner plans they had been planning for a week, but she didn't have it in her. Her mother pretty much called it; she was too tired after the day she had.

"Okay," She answered, nervously examining her painted nails. Despite the fact that her mother was focusing on the road in front of her, she could almost feel her mother's intense gaze on her, probably trying to read everything that was going on with her.

"Pipe," Her mother said gently, making a right turn signal. "Are you . . .are you okay. . . with everything that happened?" Piper hesitated with her answer, stealing a glance at the rearview mirror to see Karen in the back. She honestly had no idea what she was feeling. It most certainly wasn't fantastic or even just good . . . but surprisingly enough, she didn't feel bad either. Not terrible, anyway, and she didn't know how to explain why. Nonetheless, she wasn't going to say anything about it here. She didn't want to worry her niece, or her mother.

"I'm . . . fine, Mom." She finally said, offering up a meek smile. Of course, her mother being the ever observant person that she was didn't seem to buy it.

"Are you sure, honey? Because you can talk about it if you'd like." Talking about it; nothing sounded better to Piper at the present moment. Maybe her mother could help her sort out what she felt about the situation. But in the end, she stuck to her grounds.

"I'm okay. Really." She knew that it was a blatant lie, and she was positive her mother knew it too. Her mother simply nodded, and as if to provide a small bit of consolation, grasped on of Piper's hands in her and squeezed it gently.

"If you say so, baby."


	2. Chapter 2

**So here's the second chapter in it's . . .eleven page glory. Took me all summer but I got it done and I think I did well. Hopefully I can quicken the next update but I start school in not to long so no guarantees. Thanks to all who have reviewed and favorited so far, I appreciate you all immensely (particularly HepburnJunkie for reasons you know). No Brenda in this chapter but I promise she'll be in the next one. This chapter focuses on Sharon's family and reveals a bit about her history. I did do some of it to fit some of the things revealed in Major Crimes about Sharon. I'd just like to add that no matter what happens in Major Crimes, I'm not changing anything about her children (and grandchild) in this story. Enjoy! **

**Sharon**  
There are some things a mother just knows about her children. Of course in Sharon's case, adding the many years she had observing fellow officers and criminals, she had always had an extra sharp sense when it came to the behavior of her kids. She always knew when her oldest son was too overwhelmed in his AP studies or when he was guilty of accidentally running over the lawn mower with his car. She knew when (and where) her younger son was hiding pot in his bedroom. And she knew every time something was bothering her only daughter.

The minute they returned home, Piper did not hesitate to slink over to the couch, sprawl across it, kicking her shoes and backpack to the floor. She reached for the remote control, which was resting on the marble coffee table, and proceeded to turn on the television and flip through the different channels, finally settling on a rerun of a nineties sitcom. She wrapped her arms tightly around one of the couch's floral pillow and rested her head gently against it. Sharon silently observed her daughter's actions, a look of concern spreading across her face. Her youngest had always been a quiet personality, often expressing her emotions in silent gestures, almost like a pantomime act, and she was able to figure out exactly what these gestures and actions meant: that Piper was either weary or bothered . . . or a mixture of both. Sharon was certain that in this instance something was bothering Piper, something involving the recent case, and she knew it ever since she saw her daughter at the station.

Karen on the other hand, set her Snoopy backpack next to Piper's and followed Sharon like a puppy into the kitchen. She crawled up and sat at the edge of the marble counter top and watched Sharon's actions in silence. She had always been much easier for Sharon to read and analyze, and right now she knew that Karen was simply worried about what was going on with the people around her. When she was much younger, no older than two or three, she would always cry when Piper cried before she even knew what the cause was, and if Sharon was ever visibly distraught she would always stay in close proximity, as if hoping her presence would sooth her grandmother. She absentmindedly swung her legs back and forth as Sharon pulled her cell phone out of her purse and pressed the '3' button; Linus's speed dial.

"Mom?" He picked up on the second ring and judging by the noise she heard in the background, he was most likely on the road using his car phone.

"Linus," She said pleasantly, eyeing Piper lying on the couch through the kitchen hutch, "Listen, there's been a change of plans. You're on the road, right?"

"Just got off work and on the highway. What's up?"

"That's good, you need to come over to the house. We're having dinner here."

"Really? Wha-what happened, it everything okay?" She could hear worry seep into his voice in almost the same way it would her own.

"Everything's fine. . . for the most part honey," She began nervously turning towards Karen, who seemed to have occupied her attention to the contents of her purse. "There was . . . a shooting a Piper's school and I thought it was best if she stayed in." She cringed as she heard Linus try not to swerve off the road.

"What? A shoot-oh my god, Mom! How's Piper? Is she-"

"Linus, she's fine." She said calmly, running her fingers through her hair, "Exhausted, but fine." Alright, she admitted to herself, not the entire truth, but she wasn't going to worry her son anymore while he was driving. "I think she could use her big brother right about now."

"Fine," He finally said reluctantly, "Do you want me to pick anything up on the way?"

"No, I think I have it covered. I'll see you in a little bit."

"Yeah, of course."

"I love you," She added quickly as a sort of reassurance."

"Love you too, Mom." With that, he disconnected the call and she closed her phone with a snap and she turned her attention to her granddaughter.

"Honey, why don't you go in the living room with Piper? You know, try to make her feel better? I'll be out there in a minute." Karen nodded her head and surprisingly ran up the staircase that was connected through the little kitchen instead. She came back down nearly two minutes later carrying a medium sized plush purple octopus and an extra fluffy Snoopy doll. She ran into the living room, her wavy auburn hair bouncing with her every step.

"Here Piper, you can take Barnabas." Sharon heard Karen tell Piper, referring to her peculiar name for the stuffed octopus. Sharon smiled as the little girl settled into the large recliner with Snoopy, and opened her phone again and dialed another familiar number.

"Hi, I'd like to order a large pizza. . ."

**Linus**  
He pulled into the driveway of his mother's Victorian style home twenty-five minutes after he had received her call. He could have made it there in less than fifteen, but he had to stop for gas along the way, and while he was there he thought he'd step in the convenience store and pick up something for his sister, something to cheer her up. He eventually decided on a medium slushee; cherry flavored. Ever since she was even younger than Karen, whether she scraped up her knee or Josh had teased her to the point of tears, he would always take her on a ride in his car to the gas station and buy the two of them a large cherry slushee. It provided a sense of comfort for both of them when they were younger and he hoped it would do the same now. He was thankful that when he did make to his mother's house five minutes later, the frozen drink had hardly melted.

Linus knew he didn't have to bother knocking so he just carefully slipped in through the front door. Almost immediately, he could hear the various noises coming from the television in the living room. The only light that radiated anywhere in the household came from the kitchen. Because it was later in the evening, the sun was beginning to set and the light from the rays, varying from pink to orange, gave the entire house a natural lighting that Linus had always been drawn to. In the living room he found the three of them: Piper, Karen, and his mother. His mother was currently on the black leather recliner with Karen resting comfortably on her lap, and his sister curled up in the fetal position on the couch, holding what Linus realized was Barnabas, Karen's stuffed octopus. They were watching a sitcom from the nineties, one that he remembered watching when he was a kid. It was then that he realized that even at thirty, he was actually starting to feel old.

"Hey mom," He greeted, giving a slight wave in her direction. He saw Karen's face brighten up and she squirmed out of her grandmother's arms and ran towards him.

"Linus!" She exclaimed happily, throwing her arms around him and hugging him tightly. He greeted her with a quiet "Hey kiddo," before going over to his mother, who was now standing, and kissing her on the cheek. While his mother couldn't exactly be called short, petite was probably a better word, he was at least a head taller than her and had to lean down a bit to reach to her level.

"How was work?" His mother asked after pulling away and sitting back down on the recliner.

"Long," He replied honestly. "This Hammond Company lawsuit is turning into such a nightmare." She nodded understandingly. Linus worked as a corporate attorney at a firm outside of Los Angeles and with all the lawsuits and settlement cases he had to handle it made his job almost as stressful as his mother's; emphasis on the word 'almost'. He turned towards his little sister again and back at mother who gave another nod of understanding. At that moment, the front doorbell chimed throughout the house and his mother went to answer, Karen, not surprisingly, right on her tail. He slid down on the sofa next to Piper, having to move her sock covered feet on top of his lap to make room.

"What's up, Little Bit?" He asked her kindly using his old nickname for her, reaching over to ruffle her hair and hand her the frozen drink. He felt a sense of relief as she smiled faintly as a sort of 'thank you' and took it from him, sipping it slowly.

"Nothing much, I guess." She finally said quietly. She shifted her position so her head rested against his shoulder. "Did you get that from a convenience store?" Linus sighed internally and nodded. Several months ago, there had been a shooting that took two lives at a convenience store, the 'Shootin' Newton Murders' as his mother had called it, and ever since Piper had been too terrified to even set foot in any convenience store and she was always cautious for her other family members as well.

"Don't worry Pipes, nothing happened," He paused for a moment. "You're sure nothing's up?" He asked her skeptically.

"Course I'm sure," She replied, looking up at him.

"Do you want to talk about it at all?" She shook her head as a response. "Alright then."

Linus sighed deeply and placed a protective arm around her shoulder as she took another long sip. Linus and his sister had always been particularly close despite their sixteen year age difference, and certainly closer than it had been between Piper and her other brother, so it bothered him immensely that she seemed to be holding back on him. She normally wouldn't hesitate to tell him anything; extra emphasis on the word anything. Whatever happened during that shooting must have hit Piper pretty hard.

When their mother and Karen came back with the pizzas, the conversation with the siblings temporarily ended. As they grabbed their plates and their slices of hot pepperoni pizza, Piper seemed to want to make up for the fact that she was asking distant by casually asking him, "So have you seen any good movies lately?" Linus and Piper didn't take long to begin a conversation about films, music, and television; trivial things that seemed to put both of them at ease. As they ate, Linus noticed that his mother did not take her eyes off of them the entire time. He wasn't quite sure what was more disarming: Piper's unusually distant behavior, or Sharon Raydor's jade green eyes, very different from his and Piper's grey-blue, seeming to pierce into him with his every move. It had always driven him crazy that he could never seem to read his mother. Everything from her demeanor to her facial expressions made her a total mystery to him. He supposed this was what made her so good at her job.

As it always seemed to go in his mother's house, Linus lost track of time and soon he heard the grandfather clock in the main hallway chime nine thirty. They were now all in the living room and his mother knelt down on the floor next to Karen, who was currently coloring.

"Come on, Karebear, it's bedtime." Karen scrunched her face up unhappily the way only a six year old could.

"Aww can't I stay up Gramma? I'm not even tired." As she said this she made a failed attempt to stifle a yawn. "Linus is still here!"

"Actually I should probably get going, kiddo." Linus said standing up from his spot on the couch. His mother whirled her head in his direction and pointed at him.

"Not so quick, Linus I want to talk to you." She said before turning back to Karen. "Right after I put this one to bed."

"That's okay Mom, I can – I can take Karen." Piper said suddenly. She turned to Karen for approval and the little girl nodded eagerly adding an enthusiastic "Yeah!" to confirm it.

"Uh that's . . . Fine, I guess." His mother said slowly. She stood up, looked towards Linus again and nodded towards the front door. "Shall we?" He nodded and quickly kissed Piper's cheek before he followed his mother outside and Piper began to help Karen get ready for bed.

Once outside, Linus felt the cool breeze, not unusual for a March evening hit his face. The sky had set itself into a dark blue hue and the only source of light came from the windows of the neighboring houses. There was hardly any sound except for the hum of traffic in the distance, which was often a rarity in Los Angeles. Fortunately it did seem to bring a sense of comfort to him and made him feel at ease about the discussion that was about to take place. His mother walked over to the porch's wooden railing, leaning against it. It creaked slightly at the contact and Linus decided on sitting in the old porch swing, only five feet away from where her mother was standing.

"So Mom," Linus began nervously, swinging back and forth, "What did – what did you want to talk about?"

"Oh nothing much," His mother sighed. "I just have a favor to ask you."

"Okay, shoot." Linus replied cautiously, having a pretty good idea about where his mother was going with this. Sometimes he knew her all too well.

"Did she say anything to you?" She asked quickly. "About-well, anything?" He sighed.

"Mom, you were there for roughly ninety percent of our conversation, and she never said anything." She held up her hands as a way of backing off from the subject.

"Okay fine, I'm just checking."

"So this favor you need?" He pressed.

"Right," She nervously began running her fingers through her hair. Her face shifted into a look of concern. "It's not really anything big, I was just wondering if you could keep some extra tabs on her for me? Like if she says anything to you or anything, would you mind mentioning to me? With everything that's happened, I want to make sure that nothing too horrible is going on with her."

"Of course," Linus nodded understandingly, "Don't I always talk to her anyway?"

"I know you do," She added hastily, "And I really appreciate that." She laughed a little, more to herself than him. "Because even if Josh were still around, he wouldn't have been able to talk to her; or wanted to." That was all too true, he thought grimly to himself. There was always a huge distance between his brother and sister, almost as if Josh resented Piper too much to want her around.

"It's not our fault he never warmed up to her . . . well her existing." She didn't answer this; only shook her head slightly in what seemed liked dismay. Linus decided that was a good time as any to provide some form of sympathy, so he stood from his spot on the swing, and walked over to put a comforting arm around his mother's shoulder. He didn't have to say anything; she seemed to know what he was trying to do. It was true that the reason Piper existed at all was . . . unfortunate, to say the least, but she was here now, and he was sure grateful that she was.

"Thank you," She finally said loud enough for him to hear. "You always were a good son, you know that right?"

"Of course," He laughed, allowing her to hug him tightly; and for a petite woman, she could hug pretty tightly. It would be a while before Linus finally did leave his mother's porch.

**_*14 Years Prior*_**  
**_Sharon_**  
_Sharon drummed her fingers anxiously against the edge of her desk, getting more and restless with each passing minute. She glanced up at the office's small clock and she groaned in frustration when she saw that not even five minutes passed since the last time she checked the time. She had to resist the urge to throw something at it, in the vain hope that it could speed up time. She then had the bitter realization that all this desk work she had been confined to was going to make her go crazy. It was beginning to get dark outside, and it was getting increasingly difficult to concentrate. She attempted to adjust her position in her swivel chair only to receive a hard kick in the abdomen from the unborn being inside her._

_ "Didn't like that, did you?" She asked her bulging eight month pregnant stomach quietly. She received another kick in the abdomen as a sort of response. "I should have guessed." Sharon let out a small sigh and grudgingly kept the uncomfortable position she was in. Her eyes began to grow heavy as she felt her body relax. She wasn't sure what taking more out of her: this pregnancy or the anxiety it was beginning to cause._

_ "So you talking to yourself again, are you Sharon?" Sharon's eyes shot open as she involuntarily jumped and spun around to face whoever it was that broke the almost unbearable silence in the near-empty office. Her baby kicked again and she glared daggers at the culprit, who was clearly very amused by the situation._

_ "Dammit Andy!" She snapped angrily at her partner, "Don't do that, what the hell is wrong with you?" He didn't stop his laughing but he did hold up his hands in mock surrender._

_ "Nice to see you too, Shar." He said, walking over and pulling up a seat next to her. She rolled her eyes, but honestly she was very grateful to have his company._

_ "You know," She began, deciding to have a little fun with him, "You really shouldn't sneak up on a pregnant woman like that." She looked down at her stomach, "It might cause them to go into early labor." The look on Andy's face was priceless as it shifted from confusion to mild shock and then annoyance._

_ "That's not funny." He told her seriously, only causing her to giggle uncontrollably. "You had me going there for a second." This made her giggle even harder._

_ "Oh lighten up, Flynn." She said, grinning at her friend. "Now to what do I owe the pleasure? Shouldn't you be at the crime scene with the others?" He shrugged his shoulders._

_ "I requested permission to come back here and help you with the desk work. I figured you could use some help." She raised her eyebrows at this, clearly surprised._

_ "Well that was thoughtful of you, Andy, but really, I have most of it covered."_

_ "Oh come on Sharon," He said, giving her a light punch on the shoulder and looking down at her stomach. "Just accept it as a date. God only knows you haven't had one in at least eight months." She knew he was only kidding, she really did, but whether the comment really did hit below the belt or her hormones were acting up, all she could do was stare at him as if he had punched her before hot tears began to spill down her face. She buried her face in her hands and began to sob almost uncontrollably. When she managed to look up again she saw Andy was practically frozen in his spot, and he was staring at her in terror as if she were a grotesque creature with a third eye and webbed feet. Normally she would have considered it a hilarious scene but it only seemed to make her cry even harder._

_ "Shar – I didn't mean – look I'm really sorry!" His words were strained, like he wasn't exactly sure what to do. She felt his hand awkwardly try to pat her shoulder comfortingly. "Come on, please don't cry. It makes me feel weird."_

_ "Oh so you're the one that feels weird?" Sharon snapped through her tears feeling angrier with every word, "Are you the one who's eight months pregnant right now when you really shouldn't be? No. Are you the one who got drunk and did some really stupid things with the deadbeat husband you're supposed to be separated from? No. And are you the one who has to deal with the consequences while facing your other kids every day? No, I didn't think so." All of her emotions that she had been keeping bottled up for the past few months seemed to spill out of her like an erupting volcano, and she couldn't stop it. The good news was that Andy no longer looked horrified; the bad news was now he looked extremely confused._

_ "What?" He finally choked out. "I thought you and your husband were . . . separated."_

_ "It's nothing," She wiped some stray tears away from her face, "It's just been a rough few months." But Andy did not let the subject drop, of course he didn't. He gave her a look that certainly was not pity but more like . . . sympathy._

_ "Sharon," He asked her seriously, "What happened?" She hesitated for a moment before taking a deep breath._

_"Well - as you clearly know, Nicolas and I have been separated for about six years. I got custody of the boys and they would visit him every few months." Andy nodded, probably already knowing most of this information, and she continued. "And well, Josh being Josh, he was suspended from school again. He . . . He defaced all the desks in his classroom." She shook her head, almost too frustrated by the memory. "Anyway I ended up driving down to Orange County to talk with him about it. He knows Josh better than most people and I don't know how to deal with him sometimes. When I got there, it was late, I was tired, so we broke out a bottle of wine. We talked, we had a lot to drink, and then we - somehow ended up . . ." She couldn't bring herself to finish the sentence, but Andy took her hand as if to tell her he understood. A lump formed in her throat, and it practically took super human powers not to cry again. "And - we forgot to use protection. A few months after that, I began having morning sickness, fatigue, I was late - basically everything I experienced when I was pregnant with Linus and Josh." She took another deep breath. "I had the doctor confirm it when I realized I was late." Andy's eyes widened._

_"So this baby was -"_

_"An accident, yes. You can say it." Sharon ran one of her hands through her curly auburn hair._

_"What did Nicolas say?"_

_"Well, once I finally got around to telling him, he made it abundantly clear he wanted nothing to do with this baby. Suggested I give it up for adoption." She couldn't stop herself from letting a few tears stream down her cheeks. "But I decided I was going to do this, whether he was willing to help or not. So here I am, getting ready to have this baby on my own." She stopped playing with her hair and rested her hand against her stomach. For a long moment, Andy remained silent, taking in everything she said. His face had paled quite a bit, and his eyes neared the size as golfballs. _

_"I-don't-you-wow, Sharon." Was all he could say, his voice barely audible from surprise._

_"I know." Her face was as pink from embarrassment as his was pale from shock._

_"Completely on your own?"_

_"He may pay child support if I need it but yes," She sighed. "On my own." Another awkward silence passed between them, and she glanced over at her desk, directly at the picture of her two boys, taken about two years ago. Both boys were smiling broadly, both pairs of eyes, one pair pale green the other grey-blue, twinkling mischievously. At the time of the photo it seemed to be so perfect for the boys so . . normal. Now everything was so off balance from before. She couldn't take her eyes off the carefree boys and Andy seemed to notice._

_"How are they taking it?" He asked quietly. She did not avert her gaze._

_"Linus is actually pretty excited about it. He's even helped come up with ideas for a name." She smiled at the brown haired blue eyed boy on the left, who was no older than fourteen in the photo, making him nearly sixteen now. "But Josh," She eyed the smaller auburn haired green eyed boy on the right, who was about ten now. "Josh isn't happy at all. And he's made it abundantly clear." It was true. Everything from the cold stares, long periods of the silent treatment, to flat out storming out of the room, Josh did everything in his power to make sure that if he wasn't happy, nobody was._

_"I'm sure he'll come around." Andy told her hopefully. When she didn't respond right away he added, "You know, Julia and I weren't really planning on having Mason either, and believe me, we went into a real shock when we found out we were. He's kind of the reason we got married at all." Sharon whirled around at this revelation regarding Andy's one year old son, her green eyes wide._

_"Seriously? Mason was an accident? I just thought - since you and Patricia had planned on having Miranda," She sputtered, remembering his ex and their six year old daughter. "And I thought that since Mason was partly why you joined AA-" When she realized that it slipped out, she clamped her hand over her mouth and quickly went quiet at this slip of his personal information, but Andy didn't seem to care._

_"Yep. Mason was technically an accident, and when Miranda found out there was going to be a baby around she really threw a fit."_

_"Really? Miranda? We're still talking about your Miranda, aren't we?" This all was news to Sharon, because with the few times she met Miranda believed she was the sweetest girl in the world. _

_"Definitely the same. She was dead set against there being another kid around. She was belligerent, bratty, and refused to call the baby her brother." She raised an eyebrow, as if to ask what the point to all this was. He continued. "But after Mason was born, she finally came around. It took a while, but she did. Now all she does is talk about how much she loves her baby brother."_

_"What are you trying to say?"_

_"I'm trying to say that Josh will eventually come around too. And even if he doesn't, I know that you'll be able to get through it. Really this whole situation, you'll be able to handle just fine. Because I know you, and you're strong enough to take this. Much better than a lot of people." Sharon was completely speechless. She was so overwhelmed by his praise that she almost began to cry again. She felt incredibly lucky to have a friend like him on her side._

_"Thank you," She said softly. She looked down at her stomach and smiled again. "You know I really am excited to have this baby. To be able to do it all again. Terrified, but excited. And the baby's perfectly healthy, so I'm especially grateful for that."_

_"That's good," He patted the hand that rested on her belly. "That said, do you know what you're having?" Sharon positively beamed, and felt a tingle of joy course through her._

_"A girl." She said proudly. "My first little girl." She was surprised to see Andy beam too._

_"I bet she's going to be just like her mom. Every bit gorgeous and headstrong." _

_"Stop it, you're making me blush." But Sharon was still grinning. She looked towards her paperwork. "You know, we really should get back to work."_

_"Wait, just one more question!"_

_"Fine. One more."_

_"Got any names picked out?" Her eyes twinkled mischievously._

_"Actually there was a name Linus pointed out to me in a name book that stood out to me. It's simple, pretty in its own sense, and unique so I won't have to worry about her sharing it with other girls in her class."_

_"What is it?" Sharon beamed again._

_"Piper. It means 'musical' I believe." He nodded his head, his eyes twinkling almost as brightly as hers._

_"It's perfect, Shar." She felt the baby kick lightly as if to agree. _

_"Yeah, it is."_  
***Present Day***  
'Musical' was certainly one word to describe Piper, Sharon thought to herself as she looked up from her book towards the ceiling, where she could faintly hear the noises of the Chicago soundtrack playing on her daughter's stereo in the room above. She knew at this point it was only a matter of time. Of course Piper could listen to the songs of her favorite musical at any time during the day (and had), but only in dire situations did she have her music on this late, so late that Karen had been asleep for hours, because it meant that she needed to calm herself down; that she had almost too much pressure on her chest. Big tests, times of the month, and fights with one of her friends were the most popular times but Sharon knew exactly what this time meant. She casually looked back down at her book, pushing her loose ponytail over her shoulder and adjusting her glasses ever so slightly. It was a book she had read several times before, of the science fiction genre (coincidentally a book Andy had given her years ago) so she had practically memorized the words on the pages. Nonetheless it was a book she enjoyed immensely and it was a perfect way to bide her time until the inevitable. The room was dimly lit, the only illumination coming from the lamp on Sharon's mahogany nightstand.

It wasn't long until she heard the music above her shut off suddenly and a soft pattering of feet descend to the upstairs hallway and to the staircase. There was nothing but silence for several minutes until the sound of footsteps became audible again, louder than before. Three, two, one . . .

Her bedroom door slowly creaked open. Perfectly timed.

'Mom?" Piper's voice was almost impossible to hear it was so quiet. "Can I-?" Without even looking up from her book, Sharon moved the covers on the other side of her and patted the mattress, motioning for Piper to join. The girl shuffled across the floor, her socks moving smoothly across the hardwood floor. She crawled into the bed next to Sharon, curling herself as close to her mother's body as she could and resting her head against her mother's shoulder. Her dark brown curls fell loosely around her face and Sharon quickly turned over to push them back out of the way. Here she got a real close up look at her daughter. The pink and blue extensions had been removed (much to Sharon's relief), her flannel pajama top was wrinkled and buttoned up unevenly, and most surprisingly, her eyes were red and blotchy, causing Sharon to realize Piper had been crying. Almost instantly, she placed her arm around her daughter and held her tightly, allowing the girl's meltdown to ensue. She felt Piper's body begin to rack with oddly quiet sobs, and Sharon simply rocked her back and forth, running her fingers through the girl's locks of hair, and placing a soft kiss on her forehead every time there was a whimper of "Mommy". They stayed like this for a long while until Piper's tears began to gradually slow, and enough tears had bled into the fabric of Sharon's pajama's that her shoulder was soaked.

"Sweet girl," Sharon murmured soothingly, "What's wrong?" Piper did not answer right away. She needed a minute to compose herself. "Is it because of what happened today?" The girl nodded her head.

"I j-just f-feel bad." She sniffled quietly.

"Because you're upset? Sweetheart, it's normal to feel that way after something like that happens. You don't need to feel bad for being upset."

"No." Piper looked up at Sharon, her eyes shining with tears. "No I feel bad because I'm not that upset."

"What?" Sharon adjusted her daughter so she was sitting up a little more. "Explain."

"Well," Piper began, using her index finger to twirl a lock of Sharon's hair, "It's just . . . of course I feel bad that Mr. Shaw is dead. I really do. I guess I'm not really distraught, you know?" She cringed slightly at her use of the annoying speech pattern. "I mean, I didn't actually see him die. And Duncan wouldn't let me see the body. Not that I wanted to!" She added quickly. "So it's not like I saw anything real traumatizing. I feel bad that Shaw's dead but that's it. I tried feeling even worse about it, but I just can't."

"Okay," Sharon said, taking in what her daughter said, realizing none of it was all that surprising and felt she should have figured sooner. When Piper was little, the only time she ever cried over a wound was when she was eight and she had sliced her leg open on a barbed wire. She had bled so much that day it had been near impossible to see the actual wound. Other than that, her daughter had always had a particular numbness for pain, much like Sharon. "I'm not entirely sure I understand what the problem is."

"I guess . . . that because of everything . . .I'm just afraid I don't have a . . . a conscious."

"What?" The look on Sharon's face was one of shock and horror, a look she hardly ever had and one she certainly did not expect to have over something her daughter said. "Piper Grayson Raydor I NEVER want to hear you say you have no conscious again, do you understand me?" Her voice grew incredibly stern and Piper did nothing but nod blankly. That was a voice all her children knew to listen to. "You're reaction is nothing less than what I would expect from you, but the idea of you not having a conscious is ridiculous. Just the fact that you're torn about your feelings shows you do! And the way you take care of Karen, the way you're so sweet to other people . . . You're one of the kindest people I know, Piper. And I will kick the conniptions out of anyone who says otherwise." Piper remained silent as if stupefied by her words.

"Really?" Was all she finally said.

"Really. You and Karen both. I'm actually quite proud to have children like you." Of course Karen was technically her grandchild of course, but Piper seemed to know what she meant. She watched her daughter's tense shoulders relax significantly as she buried herself in Sharon's shoulder again, still keeping her fingers entwined in Sharon's hair.

"Thank you," The girl whispered, sniffling just a little.

"I'm just telling the truth, sweet girl." Sharon placed a kiss on top of her daughter's head, inhaling the scent of the jasmine shampoo in her hair. "Now you have had a really long day and I know you're exhausted, so I think you should try and get some sleep." Piper nodded in agreement before looking up at Sharon.

"Would it be alright if I slept here tonight? Please, Mom?" Sharon chuckled lightly and nodded her head. She had just set her book (which made it's way to the end of the bed in the commotion) on the dresser and turn out her lamp when Piper spoke up again.

"Wait!" Even with her blotchy tear stained face, Sharon could see Piper get the look she always got when confused. "I just remembered something! Something about the crime scene that seemed off!"

"Oh really?" Sharon raised an eyebrow. "I thought you said you didn't see the body."

"I didn't. But I saw something just outside the teacher's lounge. On the wall, there was like this weird stain that was kind of trickling. It may have been blood but I don't know. It kind of looked too dark to be blood." She wasn't sure if she was just really tired, but in that moment, that observation, Sharon saw a lot of herself in her daughter then. And she would make sure it was acknowledged . . .tomorrow. Right now they just needed rest, both of them.

"I believe you, sweetie. But right now you need to sleep, can you do that?"

"Uh huh." Piper nodded, her eyes growing visibly heavier. As Sharon turned off her lamp, she heard Piper's voice again, quieter this time, almost a whisper. "Like me?" Sharon smiled at the question; an inside banter between the two of them. Their something particularly special.

"Rivers."

"Love me?" Sharon pulled her daughter close to her.

"Oceans." She felt Piper's smile against her chest. "Goodnight, sweet girl" Her only answer was the girl's heavy breathing. She soon followed the slumber still holding her daughter tightly.

**I don't own The Closer. Only Linus, Josh, Piper, and Karen Raydor (and Miranda and Mason Flynn too) are my own creations.**


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